First, some context: I'm working toward the Mankato Marathon in late October using the Pfitzinger 18-week training plan that tops out at 55 miles per week. It's split into several distinct phases, each with a specific purpose, and I just wrapped up all of the endurance-building work. (That makes me happy because it's the end of long tempo runs that go up to seven miles at half-marathon pace, which I find much more of a bear than any other kind of workout!)
Now I'm entering the four-week race preparation phase, and that means speedier stuff than I have been doing this summer so far. One of the key pieces of this block are three (I think) weekends in which you run a race on Saturday (between 5-9 miles) and then do your regular long run the following day. It's an extra challenge for sure, but the races are also really nice opportunities to check in and test your fitness and then use that feedback to help guide your pacing goals for the marathon.
Enter the Bolder Dash! It's the annual race put on by Bolder Options, a mentoring program for kids with a focus on health and fitness (kids have to complete three 5Ks in a year and attend meetings about topics like goal-setting and healthy habits, and they meet weekly with their mentors and do lots of fun activities). I've been a Bolder Options mentor in the past, and I have enormous respect for this program and the people who work in it, so I was thrilled that the Bolder Dash fell on a weekend when I was looking for a 10K race.
The weather was perfect, perfect, perfect: 51 degrees or so at the start, warm enough for me to go sleeveless as usual but cool enough so my arms got chilly, even during the race! We started at Harriet Island in downtown St. Paul, where I've never-ever run before, and the 10K was an out-and-back down this lovely road that meandered along the Mississippi. It was, as mentioned, a heavenly beautiful morning, and it really felt like September out there: leaves turning yellow, cool sunshine streaming through the trees, that kind of thing.
I was hoping to run a race similar to my Get in Gear time back in April. I started out pretty quickly because of how wonderfully cool it felt and worried in the back of my mind that I was setting myself up for a rough road to the finish. I slowed down for the third mile, which included a hill and a more significant headwind, and got to the turnaround feeling tired.
But I gave myself a little peptalk and really fought the urge to coast along and back off, and it was a neat and rewarding experience to give myself credit to believe that maybe I did have enough left in the tank to get me to the finish in good form. And I did! I got back into a groove and was able to actually pick up my pace. I ended up with a 7:45 average pace and crossed the line about 25 seconds faster than my Get in Gear time. I am pumped about that but even more happy that I got to see the really clear result of positive thinking, instead of the all-too-common experience of talking yourself out of something or away from a goal.
Now soup is in the crockpot, the Tennessee football radio feed is streaming on the computer (complete with local commercials, which I'm loving) and I have some rest to accomplish before some more miles tomorrow.
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